on the cheap Definition

cheap
adj

1. Low in price; inexpensive.

Thesaurus: inexpensive, moderate, low-priced, reduced, low-cost, reasonable, half-priced, dirt-cheap; Antonym: expensive, dear, costly.
2. Being or charging less then the usual; good value for money.
3. Low in price but of poor quality.

Thesaurus: inferior, ordinary, shoddy, imitation, spurious, sham, meretricious.
4. Having little worth; valueless.

Example: War makes human life seem cheap
5. Vulgar or nasty.

Thesaurus: vulgar, dirty, low, sordid, contemptible, tawdry.

adverb

1. colloq
Cheaply.
Example: Good houses don't come cheap

Derivative: cheaply
adverb

Derivative: cheapness
noun

Idiom: cheap and nasty

Offensively inferior and of low value.

Idiom: dirt cheap

Ridiculously cheap.

Idiom: on the cheap

derog
Cheaply; with minimal expense.

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon ceap trade, price or bargain.